The Mary Daniel Turner, SNDdeN, Scholarship was established in 2011 to honor the memory of this long-time colleague, mentor, and friend of the Religious Formation Conference.   The scholarship supports religious whose congregations are members of the Conference and need some financial assistance in order to participate in RFC programs.

For over fifty years, Sister Mary Daniel was engaged in the beginnings and on-going development of the RFC. One of the original designers of the Conference’s ForMission Program, she also contributed to the revision of its Life Commitment Program and served on its Advisory Council for Programming.  In 2009, Sister Mary Daniel received the Conference’s Mary Emil Penet Award for her outstanding contribution to the initial and lifelong formation of religious women and men, both nationally and internationally.

Mary Daniel Turner Scholarships

  • Are intended for religious whose congregations are members of the Religious Formation Conference and who demonstrate a need for financial assistance with program costs.
  • May be requested to support a religious’ participation in any program offered by the Conference, with particular attention paid to requests for assistance with costs of the ForMission program.
  • Are partial; congregations must be prepared to assume a portion of the program for which they are requesting assistance.

Application Procedure

  1. Applicants must submit a Letter of Request from their superior requesting scholarship assistance. If the letter is sent as an attachment to an email, a hard copy must be sent to the RFC office as well.
  2. The letter must be on the congregation’s/province’s letterhead and signed.
  3. It must demonstrate need for scholarship assistance (e.g. copy of NRRO report on retirement funding or clear explanation/demonstration of the need for financial assistance from the province/congregation) and acknowledge the congregation’s readiness and ability to pay a portion of the costs involved in the program for which assistance is being requested.
  4. If a program requires that the superior send a letter of recommendation for the religious’ participation in a particular program (such as ForMission, Life Commitment Program, Compromiso de Vida), both may be sent at the same time, but as two distinct letters.
  5. Requests for scholarships must reach the RFC office no later than one month in advance of the program start date for which assistance is requested. Applicants will be notified whether or not their request was approved within 7-14 days of receiving the required information. 

Materials may be sent to Brian Michalski, Program Manager, by email at bmichalski@relforcon.org.